Embracing Autumn Without Taking A Fall

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Good morning on this beautiful day everyone. Happy autumn and apple picking.

Not feeling so cheerful and bright lately? You are not alone. Autumn doesnâ€™t always bring about joyful optimism and light-heartedness for my friends and family members who are suffering from seasonal shift anxiety and nervousness. My girlfriend tells me that while she loves the cooler nights, crisp mornings and looks forward to cool boots and cozy sweaters her excitement is often overshadowed by anxiety, nervousness, even the blues come and go. Autumn anxiety is real and treatable.

We all know that daily exercise and a healthy diet supports increased feelings of overall well-being, and I hope you are taking this to task today; if possible early morning is best.

I came across an article this morning that offers accessible and super supportive suggestions if you are a highly sensitive soul challenged by bouts of anxiety and nervousness lately. Check it out and I hope this helps you or someone you care about be better able to embrace the new season with calmness, joy and many more smiles.

Always love,

Allison

Autumn Anxiety is Real andÂ Treatable Â It happens every year. As I watch the first golden leaves fall from the oak tree outside our house and listen to the sound of the cicadas ushering in autumn, my anxiety spikes. I used to think I was relapsing into depression, but having been through this year after year (and documenting it in my mood journal), I now know Iâ€™m just going through my annual bout of autumn anxiety:Â a nervous feeling in my gut that begins the last week of August and continues through the first weeks of September.

Iâ€™m hardly alone. Many of my friends who battle anxietyÂ â€”Â and even those that donâ€™t have a mood disorderÂ â€”Â say the first few weeks of autumn are especially difficult for them.Â Ginny Scully, a therapist in Wales, sees so many clients with feelings of anticipation and nervousness during the last week of August through the first weeks of September that she coined the term â€œautumn anxiety.â€Â Highly sensitive persons (HSPs), as defined by Elaine Aron, PhD, inÂ The Highly Sensitive Person, are especially prone to anxiety during the fall because any kind of shift can throw off their fragile neurological systems â€” and the seasonal changes of autumn and anxiety are most dramatic.Â Autumn is full of new things: new schedules, new jobs, new schools, new assignments. Itâ€™s no wonder why some of us experience heart palpitations trying to process it all. Here are a few techniques Iâ€™m using this year to keep my anxiety in check during the season. May yours be as calm as possible, too!

1. Reign In Your Inner Marsha

Remember thatÂ Brady BunchÂ episode where Marsha signs up for every activity possible, from scuba diving to cheerleading? Every autumn, many of us fight an inner Marsha who wants to volunteer our time to anyone who asks â€” or doesnâ€™t. Something about the season screams: â€œSign up! Sign up! This is your LAST chance to do something worthwhile with your life!â€ Next thing we know, weâ€™re the assistant coach for two rec leagues, spearheading fundraisers across town, and running ourselves ragged. I know my temptation in this regard. Last September, I designed seven programs I wanted to implement as part of aÂ new foundationÂ I was forming to raise awareness forÂ treatment-resistant depression. I caught â€œfall feverâ€ in a bad way and forget about myÂ limitations as a person who struggles with chronic illnessÂ herself. This year, Iâ€™m doing the opposite: Iâ€™m eliminating every possible stressor or responsibility from my calendar that I can.Â As I recently wrote in another post, Iâ€™ve embraced my second-half self and am not feeling the need to prove myself like I have in the past with stuff that ultimately isnâ€™t that important.

2. Choose a Stress-less Challenge

Donâ€™t get me wrong,Â trying new things IS good for your brain. A little novelty builds new synapses in our brains and makes us smarter and happier, apparently. But Marsha-prone people like me need to be reminded that you can choose to challenge your brain with activities that decrease stress versus increase stress. Instead of committing to write another article a week for a new website, or collaborate on a book with someone, or organize some hectic fundraiser this season, Iâ€™ve decided to use my extra time to go do a Bikram (hot) yoga 30-day challenge and to learn how to cook meals full ofÂ nutrients that will help my depression and anxiety. Just a few years ago, I didnâ€™t even know how to boil water, so this should be plenty challenging â€” but not in a stressful way.

3. Be Mindful of Allergies

Autumn, much likeÂ spring, is filled with allergies for many people, which can definitely contribute toÂ anxiety and depression. Just knowing this, I think, can help calm you down, because you can tell your spouse there is a biological explanation for your freak-outs. Your immune system is under attack, and cytokines â€” proteins that signal inflammation to our cellsÂ â€”Â are pumped into our blood stream. According to a 2009 study in theÂ Journal of Affective Disorders, the process when a person is fighting off an infection looks the same as when he or she is depressed or manic.Â Studies have shownÂ that changes in allergy symptoms during low- and high-pollen seasons have corresponded to increases in depression and anxiety scores. Some experts say this could even explain the spike in suicides during spring every year.

4. Remember to Breathe
This is the easiest technique, and the one I use the most in September: right before â€œback to school night,â€ at any kind of orientation (the word â€œorientationâ€ even provokes anxiety), and on my way to my kidsâ€™ sports events (when did everything get so competitive?). Iâ€™m usually driving, so all I do is inhale to a count of five, hold my breath for five, exhale to a count of five, and hold my breath for five. Practicing yoga on a more regular basis has definitely made me more conscious of my breathing and how often Iâ€™m panting from my chest â€” using rapid, shallow breaths â€” which primes my sympathetic nervous system to send a blast communication to my organs, including my brain, that all is not right and we should prepare for danger. When I can shift to my diaphragm with some long, deep breaths, I engage the parasympathetic nervous system to send the next message: â€œnever mind.â€ Other techniques to calm down are found in my postÂ 10 Instant Ways to Calm Down.

4.1/2 Â Meditate (Itâ€™s me again, Allisonâ€¦.
My meditation teacher, Katherine Austin, who also owns Karma Yoga studios where I love to teach is once again offering aÂ FREE Heart Based Meditation class Sunday, September 20.Â I learned mantra heart-based meditation from Katherine 8 months ago and it has subtly and profoundly transformed me. (I needed a transformation and I finally got it with this!) This type of meditation is totally doable even for the busiest minded people who believe that sitting 10-20 minutes would be impossible. I was that person. I now meditate everyday without exception; sometimes it becomes a napâ€¦oops! But itâ€™s the best rest ever. The most amazing thing is that I genuinely look forward to my special quiet time with just me. Iâ€™m not one to tell people what to do but I strongly suggest you give yourself a good try.

5. Load Up on Vitamin D and Magnesium

Early September is a good time to load up onÂ vitamin D, as your exposure to sunlight gradually diminishes after June 21 â€” already two and half months ago! â€œEvery tissue in the body has vitamin D receptors, including the brain, heart, muscles, and immune system, which means vitamin D is needed at every level for the body to function,â€ writesÂ James M. Greenblatt, MD, an integrative psychiatrist, in hisÂ Psychology Today blog.Â Many studiesÂ link vitamin D deficiencies to depression and anxiety, so thatâ€™s always the first vitamin (itâ€™s actually a hormone) I restock when I get panicky.

Magnesium is also a great calming mineral that sustains and nurtures the central nervous system, helping to reduce anxiety, panic, and nervousness. A study published inNeuropharmacologyÂ found that magnesium deficiency induces anxiety and interferes with the functions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis), which is critical to mood and stress regulation. Dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale, and chard areÂ excellent sources of magnesium. I drink aÂ kale and pineapple smoothieÂ in the morning. Nuts and seeds are also high in magnesiumÂ â€”Â especially sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds, and cashews â€” as well as beans and lentils. And dark chocolate has a ton ofÂ magnesium, but watch out for theÂ sugar.